1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique by which an image processing apparatus distributes its own set information to other image processing apparatuses.
2. Description of Related Art
The number of apparatuses having a function referred to as a box using a storage device has been increasing among recent image processing apparatuses. A box function is a function of reusing image data stored in every region produced by dividing a storage device, such as a large capacity hard disk, into a plurality of regions beforehand. For example, by storing the image data read with a scanner or the image data transmitted from a computer in a box, and later by specifying the box storing the image with an operation unit to select a target image data in an image data list in the box, it is possible to print the image data as an image, or to transmit the image data to the outside by means of a facsimile or E-mail.
Some image processing apparatuses equipped with such a box function are configured to be able to set a pass word in each box in order that many and unspecified users cannot access the image data in the box.
On the other hand, there is a request for the reduction of management costs by synchronizing the set information of a plurality of apparatuses in a user environment. Various means for distributing the set information on an image processing apparatus to a plurality of other image processing apparatuses have been provided in response to this request. For example, an image processing apparatus capable of distributing predetermined set information to other apparatuses without installing an administrative server has been considered.
As a use form of the box function capable of setting a pass word as described above, the use form can be roughly divided into two categories. One of them is a form in which a plurality of users commonly uses individual boxes without attaching a pass word to each box, and the other of them is a form in which a pass word is attached to each box and each box is personally used as a box for individual use. In an image processing apparatus having the box function, a user can register the way of using each box whether to use it in common by a plurality of users or whether to use it individually as a box for personal use, as box set information. Then, the box set information can be distributed to other image processing apparatuses.
However, when a box is used as a box for individual use, a familiar image processing apparatus on a dwelling floor in a school or an office is usually selected as the image processing apparatus having the box. On the contrary, it is rare to set a box for individual use to the image processing apparatus located on another floor. Therefore, it is frequently unnecessary to distribute a pass word for a box for individual use to an image processing apparatus located far away.
Moreover, in an image processing apparatus, an upper limit exists on the number of boxes. Moreover, the number of the upper limit is not so large. Therefore, if the boxes to which a pass word is set unnecessarily increase in number although they are not used, the user who can use the boxes is unnecessarily limited, and user-friendliness falls.